Red Bull Thre3style is a DJ competition where the participants have 15 minutes to rock the crowd with a set that incorporates at least three genres of music and keeps partygoers on their feet, and the judges impressed.

The Red Bull Thre3style World Finals in Vancouver is a homecoming of sorts. The original concept of Red Bull Thre3style began five years ago as a Tuesday night experiment at a small club in Kelowna, BC.

In 2010 the event first went global and changed the face of modern DJ battles. From the USA to Japan to New Zealand, 10 countries from around the world held deep-heated events to determine who the best party-rocking battle ambassador would be. Ultimately these warriors of the one’s and two’s came together in Paris, France at the end of the year and flexed every musical muscle in their body at the Red Bull Thre3Style World Finals. In the end it was Paris’ own DJ kARVE who wowed the judges with his impressive collage of hip- hop head-nodding electro-rocking tunage. If last year’s event was anything to go by then the 2011 Red Bull Thre3Style World Finals is guaranteed to send the international DJing scene spinning like a record on a turntable.

To earn a spot in the Red Bull Thre3style World Finals, hundreds of DJs from around the globe battled it out in regional and national qualifiers. Representing Canada is Vancouver’s own Hedspin, who dethroned 2010 winner, Drastik, and 10 other regional winners in Toronto on Nov. 12. Hedspin will be repping hard himself this December, as he’ll be competing on home turf and head-to-head with the 17 other national champions from around the world:

Robert Moreno – Argentina

DJ Perplex – Australia

Javier Rossell – Bolivia

Nedu Lopes – Brazil

Hedspin – Canada

DJ Byte – Chile

DJ PHO – Colombia

DJ Ken K – Denmark

Supa! – France

DJ Dippy – India

DJ 8 Man – Japan

DJ Spell – New Zealand

FMC – Norway

Thomas Young – Peru

BITCODE – Spain

DJ Bazooka – Switzerland

DJ Big Al – United Kingdom

DJ Big Once – United States of America

The first four nights of the calendar are knock-out stages, with the winner of each advancing to the Red Bull Thre3Style World Final on Saturday, Dec. 17 @ Commodore Ballroom. The Red Bull Thre3style weeklong judging panel will include Canadian DJ stalwart Skratch Bastid, 2003 DMC Champion and MTV Canada resident DJ Dopey, and the 2010 Thre3style Champion DJ Karve of France. They will be tasked with evaluating each performer on originality/creativity, track selection, technical skills, stage presence, and audience response.

Headlining each night is a wide range of DJ icons, including The Rub (Cosmo Baker and DJ Ayers), Stone Throw Records’ Peanut Butter Wolf, legendary producer Just Blaze, a special performance of DJ Premier vs. Pete Rock, DJ Nu-Mark‘s signature Toy Set, and a Red Bull Thre3Style World Final set by Z-Trip.